the closeness of shadows
by dharkephoenyx
Summary: She narrows her eyes at him and scowls in the low light. Checking her phone again, she's peeved that there's no service; she's 15 minutes away from her vacation and she's stuck in an elevator with the Grinch. Never mind how good his voice sounds. Rated T. AU. Finn and Rachel stuck in an elevator. Mentions of Puck, Tina and Kurt.


**A/N: There's this gifset with Lea (in NYE) and Cory (in S&B) and I tried to stay away and focus on my current open fics, but it kept coming across my dash and I gave in. Sorry. Finn and Rachel, stuck in an elevator. **

**Glee: Not mine, I just really love Rachel and Finn and of course, Monchele.**

* * *

_the closeness of shadows_

Another hour and she was officially on vacation.

She watches the clock like a hawk, and the second it hits 4pm, she literally shouts goodbye to her coworkers and was gone before anyone really knew what had just happened.

She joins the throng of people waiting for the train, humming to herself as she makes a mental list of her plans for tonight. She allows the hustle of people to push her into a corner of the train; she only has an eight minute wait for her stop, she was on vacation, and her good mood could not be spoilt.

She keeps an eye on the overhead train map for her stop, not realizing she was attracting an audience as she sings. She pulls her jacket closer around her and plucks one earpiece out, finally taking note of the faces staring at her. Someone starts clapping and then more people join in and her cheeks colour prettily; she covers her face and waits until the mass of people disembarking has thinned out before giving a little curtsey and hurrying off the train.

She really misses performing.

* * *

Forty minutes until total relaxation.

She ambles down the aisle of the Whole Foods supermarket, meticulously ticking items off her list. She snags a pint of the Chocolate Peanut Butter Zig Zag ice cream and a bag of cashews on a whim and stand patiently in line, smiling at the cashier as her purchases are bagged. She whistles the rest of the way to her apartment building, smiling at the old lady who held the door open for her as she exited.

"Thank you!"

The older woman returns her smile and chuckles merrily, "Have a good evening dearie."

She practically skips down the hallway to the elevator doors that were just closing.

"Hold the door please!" Juggling her purse, laptop and the two grocery bags, she hurries forward, one of her grocery bags tilting as she runs; the guy leaning against the back wall of the otherwise empty elevator lifts his head, headphones around his neck, eyes peeking out at her from under messy hair flopping over his forehead but makes no other move. And the doors are still closing.

She sticks her foot out at the last possible minute, sighing at the _ding! _and the doors slide back open. The tall stranger lifts an eyebrow at her and when she straightens up, the bag slips in her hands, the ice cream and lettuce she has stuffed in the top toppling to the floor.

"Crap." She hunches down and picks them up, slipping inside the closing doors, shuffling the bags in her arms and finally putting everything together as neatly as she could.

"Good evening." She says politely. Just because he didn't hold the elevator like she'd asked doesn't mean _she_ has to be impertinent.

The man just grunts.

She huffs and turns back around, clutching her bags to her chest and watching the floor numbers tick away. They were barely past eleven when the lift stops suddenly and the lights go out.

The guy behind her curses.

She closes her eyes and counts to five.

Why she lives in a 19 story apartment building and she's a tad scared of heights, she doesn't know.

* * *

There's no service on her phone.

She's yet to say anything out loud, preferring to keep her minor meltdown to herself. Finally, she retreats to the other corner of the elevator and slides to the floor.

"You're not scared of enclosed places, are you?"

She squeaks and her laptop bag falls from her hands as she covers her mouth. His voice is quiet in the small space, but rich and seductive, washing over her like sin and honey.

The guy snickers and rubs his hands over his face. In the soft yellow-white glow of the emergency lights overhead she looks up at him, craning her neck back. He's tall, like, _tall_ tall.

She shakes her head slowly.

"Good. Because I really cannot deal with hyperventilating prima donnas." He sighs, dropping to the floor and curling his legs under him.

She narrows her eyes at him and scowls in the low light. Checking her phone again, she's peeved that there's no service; she's 15 minutes away from her vacation and she's stuck in an elevator with the Grinch. Never mind how good his voice sounds.

* * *

It's not really cold in the lift, still she puts her purse and groceries on top of her laptop bag and shimmies out of her jacket and sets that aside. Her companion turns his eyes on her and smirks.

"You might want to put that back on. The longer we're stranded in here, the cooler the temperature will get." He closes his eyes and leans his head back on the wall behind him.

"And how would you know that?"

He lifts a shoulder and says nothing. She ignores him then, and goes back to fiddling with her phone. Not because she's not claustrophobic means she's OK with being stranded in a metal box hovering over eleven floors. And especially with this jerk for company. Tina is nothing but punctual, so when she gets to the apartment and doesn't find her there she'll start making calls to find out where she was.

And since when does phone service cut off inside elevators?

* * *

The guy is humming some Linkin Park song under his breath, long fingers tapping out the beat on his thigh. His eyes are closed as he rests his head on the wall behind him. Her eyes are a little used to the lighting now: his hair is dark brown she thinks, thick and messy as it flops over his forehead, she can't see his eyes, and he has freckles across his nose, a strong, angular jaw, barely there scruff creeping over his face. He's dressed in ripped jeans and a black v-neck t-shirt, leather wristlets and a watch on his left hand.

He's totally oblivious to her staring, and if it were any other time, and hopefully with better lighting she would not find fault with how ridiculously attractive he was.

She grumbles to herself and checks her phone again. It's already thirteen minutes into her vacation.

* * *

"You're just going to sit in the corner and grumble to yourself while we wait?"

She glares at him and he turns his head to look at her, the side of his mouth pulling up into a smile. He was cute, yes, but an insufferable prick for the short time she's spent with him.

"You don't seem to be very entertaining company at the moment, so pardon me if I don't particularly want to talk to you." She sniffs.

"Touché." He chuckles. "Well, we've been in here a good half-hour now, I'm sure the superintendent knows this elevator is stuck and they're working on it."

She sneaks another look at her phone.

"Yeah, the time's maybe moved five minutes since you looked at it five minutes ago."

She hopes they don't arrest her for manslaughter once the lift starts moving again.

* * *

"Anything to eat in that bag besides veggies and vegan ice cream?" Her companion sighs; either he's bored or he realizes that talking would be a more preferable alternative for entertainment while they waited.

She almost snickers but bites back her attitude and smart remark. They'd been in here for more than forty-five minutes and all she'd had for lunch was a bottle of water and a salad. Tina was supposed to be coming over at 8 so they could make fajitas and start a new bottle of wine.

And as much as this guy was a dick, she wasn't cruel.

She digs through the bag beside her and tosses him the bag of cashews she'd grabbed. She also tosses over a bottle of applejuice, uncapping another and taking a sip.

"Thanks."

She grunts in response.

The man chuckles again and rubs at the back of his head.

"Look, I'm sorry I was such a dick earlier. I've been having the crappiest day ever and this is just the icing on the cake."

She turns fully to him, playing with the cap of the bottle.

He rips open the cashews and offers her some, giving her that half-smile. "I'm Finn."

* * *

"So, vacation, huh? Sucks for you."

"I know. My best friend will be here pretty soon and when she doesn't find me in my apartment, she's going to freak."

"What floor?"

"17."

Finn nods. "You sing a lot?"

She colours slightly and tucks her hair behind her ear. "Why do you ask?"

"I'm in 16H. Whoever's upstairs sings all hours of the day, not bad, but she could do to sleep a bit later in the mornings. Five am is way too early to be that perky." He mutters, the bottle at his lips.

She glares at him again. "That's a respectable time to be awake if you have a job to get to."

He wrinkles his nose and imitates her high voice. "I do too have a job."

She laughs out loud and covers her face when he looks over at her, his own smile pulling at his lips.

"Yes, that's me. I love to sing. Not even sorry."

Finn grins back. "Well, you do have a lovely voice Rachel. Just - can you, like maybe wait til the sun is up to start competing with the birds?"

She snickers and nods her head. "I'll think about it."

* * *

"That ice cream is going to melt."

She looks down at the wet spot the ice cream was making on the floor and back at Finn. "You just want to eat all the food in my bag."

He pats his stomach and gives her a wounded look. "I'm a growing boy, I need food. We've been in here for more than an hour, and I'm hungry."

"So when we're finally moving again, I go home with no food and you leave with a full belly?"

Finn shrugs and pointed to the ice cream. "I'll buy you back everything you have in that bag, just pass over the Purely Decadent."

She raises an eyebrow as she does. Finn tears the lid from the carton and rips it in two, handing one to her. "Spoons."

"How'd you know it was vegan ice cream?"

Finn shrugs and scoops runny ice cream into his mouth. "My brother. He keeps it in his fridge and between he and my mother, they smuggled a carton into my freezer." He tilts the carton to her and she uses her make-shift spoon to partake of the creamy goodness.

"Your brother knows good food."

"Debatable. My freezer usually has frozen pizza, cold cuts, steaks, chicken breasts, pork chops, hot dogs, waffles, fudge and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream - the real thing, not soy or vegan. _That's_ good food."

She shakes her head at him. "Not much of a healthy eater, are you? I mean, this isn't college. All that meat."

"My brother is enough for me on lecturing me on healthy eating." He says, staring at her.

"I wasn't lecturing. I was simply pointing out a fact."

"Lecturing." He repeats.

"I was not!" She replies hotly.

"Do you eat meat?"

"No. I'm a vegan."

Finn gives her a sour look. "Me," he points to himself, "man. Man love meat."

She rolls her eyes.

* * *

"How is this your first vacation in three years?" Finn asks incredulously.

"Well, I only graduated college three years ago and went straight to work, the hospital only just hired a consultant so I could finally take some time off."

"Hospital?"

"I'm a music therapist."

He gives her a blank look.

"It's like, you're using music to heal. Addressing the physical, emotional, cognitive, and social needs of individuals to help them adjust to the changes they're dealing with, to get back to where they were." She feels like bouncing on her feet every time she talks about work, she doesn't regret the profession. Not at all.

Finn shakes his head. "Using music to heal, huh? Sounds heavy."

She raises an eyebrow and crosses her arms across her chest. Finn holds his hands up. "No offense intended. Sweetheart, I'm a fireman. It's all I know how to do. Pull people from burning buildings or rescue cats stuck in trees."

She smiles reluctantly at him. "Do you like it?"

"Nah. I actually hate cats. Allergic."

She snorts in soft laughter and his eyes twinkle at her. "You know what I mean, Finn."

"Yeah. I like my job. It's honest work, pays well and it keeps me busy."

"It's pretty much the same for me. I love music. And if I can find a way to help others feel better about themselves, that pays well, keeps me busy and is pretty honest work, then I don't feel that bad about not taking a vacation in so long."

He stares at her. "I don't understand something. I've heard you sing. Granted I have to go on my balcony to hear you clearly, but you're good, like _real good_. Why aren't you like on stage or selling a million records?"

She pulls her knees up to her chest. "It's a long story."

Finn snorts. "Um, Rachel? In case you don't realize, we're not going anywhere any time soon."

* * *

"So you chose to leave the stage because your of father?"

"It's not that I chose to _leave_. I did more good at home, my father was getting better, he's now back on his feet, metaphorically. He's in a wheelchair but he's back at work, back to his old self. I couldn't focus on Broadway while my dads were suffering. And I found that what I was doing, playing the piano with my father, it helped him a lot after his stroke. I went back to the hospital to volunteer, then went back to school, and fell in love with something all over again."

"Dads? As in plural?"

"Yes. I have two wonderful fathers. Who are married to each other." She gets a dangerous glint in her eyes and is taken aback when Finn laughs out loud.

"What?"

"You look like you're about to throw something at me."

"Well, if you're one of those narrow-minded individuals with a scathing supposition of gay men then I might just do that."

Finn laughs again and pushes his hair back; there's a nasty cut on his forehead and her eyes linger there before he drops his head again, his hair falling forward.

"My brother, Kurt? Well, stepbrother, our parents have been married for eleven years now. He's happily married. With a husband and a rambunctious two-year-old daughter."

"Oh." Her cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

"Yeah."

She can't help that she peeked at his fingers when he mentioned marriage.

* * *

"I'm going to just ask, because I've always been told that I'm rather forward and too nosy for my own well-being, but what happened to your forehead?"

Finn opens his eyes to look at her. "Really? Whoever told you that you were too nosy?"

She ignores his sarcasm and looks pointedly at his forehead. Finn just closes his eyes.

"I really don't want to talk about it."

She doesn't say anything, just plucks at the hem of her skirt before piping up again. "Alright. You said earlier you were having a crappy day. Want to talk about it?"

"So now you're a shrink?

"No, just a friendly, neighbourly ear."

Finn opens one eye and looks at her. "You know this is the first time you've ever spoken to me."

She furrows her brow. "What?"

"You pass me sometimes in the hallway, we've maybe taken the lift together more than a dozen times and I've lived here almost two years. Besides a nod and a smile you've never spoken to me."

"Oh." She's embarrassed to say its true. It's not that she's antisocial, but she's usually really tired when she gets home and if she's to be honest, work helps her with the distraction of her failed engagement. She's lived here almost as long as Finn has and she maybe knows the name of five of her neighbours.

"Well, look at it this way. After today, you can rest assured you'll always have a friendly ear willing to listen. Even if you're ranting about five am singing."

Finn's laugh is husky and his broad shoulders shake in mirth as he nods at her. He holds a hand out for her to shake. "Welcome to Pennsylvania Apartments Rachel Berry in Apt. 17H."

She rolls her eyes but takes his larger hands in hers. It's rough and calloused with long fingers and a scar running across his palm. "And you too Finn Hudson in Apt. 16H."

* * *

"So, you got in a fight and got suspended from work for two days."

Finn lifts his shoulders slightly. She rummages inside her purse and finds the compact first aid kit she'd taken to carrying around with her and pulls out an individually wrapped antiseptic wipe and hands it over to him. Finn glances at it warily and back to her eyes but doesn't take it from her.

"Oh, for Pete's sake. To say you're a fireman, honestly." She gets up on her knees and crawls over to him, raising her hand to push his hair back. Finn leans away.

"Awww. Is the big baby afraid of a little alcohol?"

Finn gives her a withering look but doesn't move when she raises her hands again. She brushes his hair back, and his skin tingles under her fingertips. She uses the light from her phone to clean the dirt from the cut, giggling when Finn hisses at the contact. She has to use three band-aids to close the wound then she brushes his hair away from his forehead so it doesn't irritate the sensitive skin not covered.

She sits back down and turns to him.

"Thanks." He murmurs. He staring at her with a soft smile on his face and she ducks her head, her hair curtaining her face.

"Now, why exactly were you fighting? And why not wait until you were off the clock or off the firehouse grounds?"

Finn's face becomes guarded again.

She checks her phone and they've been stuck for two hours and twenty-four minutes.

"We've got time."

* * *

"I'm just sick of all the relationship bullshit, ya know?"

She nods, agreeing.

"I mean, we dated for seven years, Rach. Seven years. And just because I didn't ask her to marry me she ups and cheats. With my best friend at that. And to top it off, it wasn't just the one time!"

She bites her lip and just watches him while he talks. She doesn't think he's aware that he just called her Rach, a nickname only her closest friends use, Jesse hated it and refused to call her anything but her given name. She likes it coming from Finn though, it feels... natural.

Finn frowns and rubs his hands over the scruff on his face. (On Jesse, she hated it, on Finn it looks manly and very attractive.)

"I only found out because I wasn't supposed to be in the station today. My niece, Starla, yesterday was her birthday and she kept begging her dads to take her to some kiddie playground and insisted I be there, so I switched shifts with Sam. I'm supposed to go in tomorrow, but my parents decided to come up on a whim and well, when Nana is around Starla has eyes for no one else."

He pulls off the headphones she saw him wearing earlier and twists the cord in his fingers.

"Quinn was leaving the break room with Puck when I walked in."

"Puck? What kind of ridiculous name is _Puck_?" She wrinkles her nose in distaste. Finn chortles and shakes his head at her.

"Puckerman. He shortened it to Puck back in middle school."

"You've known him since middle school?"

Finn nods.

"And he cheats on you with your girlfriend of seven years? That dick."

Finn laughs out loudly. "You don't curse often do you?"

She huffs at him and hits him on the shoulder. "Don't laugh at me! I'm not a fan of dirty words, but a friend like that is not someone I want around me. Either of them for that matter."

"Ow! I should have set you on Puck. Good Lord woman, you hit hard."

* * *

Finn's already eaten her box of granola bars, one of her apples and is now fiddling with a packet of sugar free cookies.

They're leaning shoulder to shoulder on the floor, talking about their favourite musicians, happy in their mutual love for old rock and roll and bands like _Journey_ and _REO Speedwagon_.

"Now, I prefer some old school rock and roll, but I have to admit, some these new pop bands are growing on me."

"I swear if you mention NLT or One Direction I'll move to the other side of this elevator. Sarah plays them non-stop."

She laughs and nudges him with her shoulder. "Who's Sarah?"

There's a hitch in voice when he tells her its Noah's little sister, and she's like his little sister too.

"So, its just you and Kurt?"

"Yea. It's a trip you know, just me and my mom for all of sixteen years. And then one day she brings home this man, tells me they're dating. Next thing I know I have a stepbrother, the only openly gay kid in school and I'm living with two new people."

"Was he bullied?" She asks quietly.

"Yeah. I'm not proud to say I used to bully him too, peer pressure and all. But after I got to know the guy, he was pretty cool. And had a very good insight of the inner workings of the girls."

She snorts and shakes her head at him.

"He was actually spot on about Quinn, come to think of it."

She looks up at him and he's frowning, staring at nothing ahead of him.

He shakes his head and looks down at her.

"What about you?"

"Only child. I've known Tina since kindergarten and we met Brittany in middle school. It was the three of us, in Glee club, that was nerd central by the way, Brittany is a doll, a little naive but one helluva dancer, she went to Julliard. Tina and I went to NYADA, and we both went to Broadway." She sits up, a grin stretching her face.

"She has a show currently going on. We should go! Get you out of this funk." She pokes him in the side.

"Broadway? Me? Seriously, you're so much like my brother its uncanny. Well, except for the animal sweaters. You can't wear that around Kurt." His eyes drop to her chest and he wrinkles his nose. "Definitely not around Kurt."

"There's nothing wrong with the way I dress!"

"Don't let my brother hear you say that. I mean, I think its kinda adorable, and you're so tiny." He pinches his fingers together and smiles widely at her, his dimples peeking out.

She swats him on the shoulder and he falls over laughing.

* * *

"So this Jesse cat, he stupid or something?"

"You talk funny." She laughs.

"You do too, I think I need a dictionary sometimes when you open your mouth." He looks down at her. "And I mean that in the nicest way possible."

She rolls her eyes and adjusts herself beside him, her legs are cramped.

"Jesse was." She stops and thinks. Jesse was everything she'd ever wanted in a man. He was on Broadway too and she'd known him since her junior year on college while he attended Tisch. He was attractive, a wonderful singer, a superb performer and was in love with the stage.

"Jesse wasn't appreciative that I'd chosen to take a break from Broadway. He said I was throwing away our dreams and I'd regret my choices one day." She balls up the empty wrapper and tosses it into one of the bags.

She doesn't mention that Jesse only came to see her father once after they found out about his stroke. And that as soon as she'd told him about taking a break from the stage he'd broken off their engagement.

"I realized we wanted different things. And as long as he's happy now, I'm good."

"He's a dick." Finn points out.

She laughs and nods against his shoulder.

"You miss it, don't you?"

"What?"

"Broadway."

She's glad he can't see the wistful look in her eyes. "Nah. I'm content now."

Finn's eerily quiet. "Liar."

So is his voice.

* * *

They sit in silence for awhile, listening to each other breathe. A few hours ago she thought this stranger standing beside her in the elevator was a dick. Finn was an idiot yes, but an adorable one. Her head was on his shoulder, his cheek resting on her hair when they heard the quiet hum of the motors overhead and the elevator gave a slight jolt.

The lights flicker on and she breathes a sigh of relief, scrambling to her feet and stretching the kinks out of her body from sitting down for almost four hours.

Finn watches her for a second and then lunges to his feet then bends down to help her get her bags together.

She bundles their garbage into one of the bags from the grocery store, smiling as Finn stands beside her with her purse over one shoulder and her laptop bag over the other.

The lift starts to descend slowly and Finn looks down to her.

"Not exactly the way you wanted to start your vacation, huh?"

"No." She shakes her head, dipping her head as she fights her smile. "Funny enough, I don't mind, really."

"Huh."

The doors slide open and she sees Tina's worried face from behind the building manager and a slender man beside him pressing his hands to his lips.

"Rachel!" Tina shouts and pushes her way through the crowd of people to get beside her. "Are you alright? I nearly went crazy with worry when I let myself into your apartment and you weren't there and weren't answering your phone and then the security called your intercom and said you were stuck in the elevator." Her best friend wraps her arms around her tightly, crushing her to her chest.

Tina pulls away from her, giving Finn a wary glance as he hands over Rachel's bags, turning his head when his name is called.

"Finn Hudson! You are not allowed to scare me like that!" The slender man she saw standing near her best friend walks over and smacks Finn in the chest, narrows his eyes and turns away, pulling out his phone.

Finn turns back to them, an amused look on his face. "My brother, Kurt. He worries."

Tina pulls Rachel closer to her side. "Tina, my best friend since kindergarten. She's a little mother-hen and can give your brother a run for his money. Tina, meet Finn."

Tina pinches her in the side and she laughs, grinning when Finn's brother comes over with a paramedic.

"Really, Kurt? We were only stuck for a few hours. I'm fine."

* * *

She smiles as all four of them take the elevator up. Kurt and Tina watching them with questioning eyes.

Finn insists on taking her to the grocery store tomorrow, to "replace all your food I ate while we were locked up. Also, I'm sorry you never got to make your fajitas."

"It's not too late. I mean, if you don't have plans, we can order in. We still have that bottle of wine to crack open. Right Tina?"

Finn smiles widely at them. He has her laptop bag slung over one shoulder and the garbage bag in one hand.

"I could eat."

Tina and Kurt stare at them like they're crazy when they both burst out laughing. Then his brother narrows his eyes at him, hand on his hips as he points at the taller man.

"Finn, do I need to ask what's wrong with your forehead? And what is this I heard about you and Puck fighting?"

Finn looks down at her and rolls his eyes. Rachel reaches up and pats his shoulder, hiding behind her hands as she laughs.

* * *

**A/N2: Alright, so it didn't exactly follow the gifset, but, you got the idea, right? Leave me some love!**


End file.
